Divisions emerged in the pro-Union campaign last night, with senior figures in
Better Together giving vent to their fury at Coalition members for claiming
that the Scottish independence referendum is already won.

The lead campaigning organisation, which is cross-party but led by Labour’s
Alistair Darling, has been at pains for months to stress that, despite a
significant lead in the polls, there is no complacency about the final
result.

They want to ensure that the pro-Union vote comes out on September 18 next
year, in order to more than counter the deeply committed core ‘yes’ support.

But this strategy was

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With friends like these ... That may be the thought uppermost in the minds this morning of those who run the Better Together campaign as they contemplate the latest cack-handed intervention by what are described by journalists as "Coalition sources".
These sources have been anything but helpful to the Union cause in recent days.
Last week, the "sources" were giving the oxygen of publicity to a quite ludicrous idea, which it seems had its genesis in the darker recesses of the Ministry of Defence, that if the worst was to happen and Scots voted for independence, the Faslane nuclear submarine base would remain UK sovereign territory. Cue understandable if typical over-reaction from the SNP and a quick denial from Number 10.
But if that notion was undone by its inherent lack of credibility, the same cannot be said of the latest effort by these self-same "Coalition sources".
They’ve let it be known that the considered view of ministers at Westminster is that the referendum is done and dusted. A victory for the pro-Union camp is a racing certainty and the only question is how big the victory will be.
Certainly, there is mounting evidence that with only 14 months to go, it will take a heroic effort by the independence camp to bridge a gap of between 20 and 30 points. But that is not why the "Coalition sources" should have kept quiet. The Better Together campaign is privately worried that if the referendum seems certain to fail, the "soft" No vote may shrug their shoulders and stay at home, believing the Union is safe.
If that happened — and given that pro-independence voters see voting Yes as a national duty — the Union side could find its whacking majority squeezed. That, in turn, could open the door to yet another referendum — the dreaded "neverendum". Surely that is exactly what these "Coalition sources" do not want.